Bernard Hopkins has never been stopped inside the distance during a glorious career that celebrated its 20thanniversary last Saturday.

Hopkins has only been knocked down twice and both knockdowns came in the same fight against Segundo Mercado inDecember 1994 – nearly 14years ago.

That fight was for the vacant middle- weight world champion- ship and the result was adraw.

Hopkins stopped Mercado in the seventh round four months later to win the title and begin his 10-year reign as middleweight champion.

Yes, Hopkins is 43. But big, bad Jermain Taylor couldn’t drop Hopkins in their two fights in 2005 when Hopkins was 40. Hopkins was 41 when he moved up to light heavyweight in 2006and beat Antonio Tarver, who couldn’t deck Hopkins but was decked himself in the fifth round by a right cross.

Furthermore, Hopkins was already 43 when he tangled with Joe Calzaghe in April.

Calzaghe – one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world – won a narrow split decision. But only Calzaghe tasted the canvas in that fight.

Hopkins, a modern-day phenomenon, might be three months shy of his 44th birthday. But it would be a big feather in the cap of Kelly Pavlik if he were to become the first person to knock out Hopkins.

They will square off tonight in the main event at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Pavlik is the middleweight world champion, but he will meet Hopkins at a catch-weight of 170pounds.

The card will be available on HBO pay-per-view.

“Oh, that would be a huge statement,” Pavlik said. “I mean, that would probably be one of the biggest statements since probably the last 40 years in boxing. I mean, he has never been stopped.”

Hopkins is so crafty, he rarely gets hit flush. So what Pavlik wants to know is, “How good of a chin does he have? Well, we don’t know.”

Pavlik is just the fighter who might be able to find that out.

Hopkins has been known to frustrate opponents with his defensive wizardry and dirty tactics, but Pavlik showed in the first of his own two fights with the aforementioned Taylor that he doesn’t get rattled easily.

Pavlik was floored – and nearly knocked out – by Taylor in the second round of that fight. But Pavlik gallantly weathered the storm and knocked out Taylor in the seventh.

“You know, he’s got great defense … but he’s got to keep up a pace, you know, and his defense will lapse a couple of times and so we have to take advantage of that,” Pavlik said. “And then it’s definitely not out the question. An early-round stoppage or a quick knockout or anything could happen.”

Jack Loew, Pavlik’s trainer, said all the right things in this regard during a recent conference call.

“We’re not going in looking for a knockout,” Loew said. “We’re prepared for 12 rounds. But if the opportunity arises, of course, we are going to take it.”

Bob Arum, Pavlik’s promoter, intimated he couldn’t care less how his fighter wins, as long as he does. After all, Pavlik is only 26 and no matter how good Hopkins has been, a loss to him could severely damage Pavlik’s budding career.

“Well, you know, I’m an old baseball man and it’s just winning the game,” Arum said. “A home run is very, very dramatic and, you know, a knockout is equivalent to a home run. But I’ll take singles and doubles as long as my team has more runs than the other guy at the end of the game.

“Same way on this one. I just want Kelly to win the fight. I’m confident that he will. If the home run comes, if the knockout comes, great. Doesn’t come, I won’t be disappointed.”

Hopkins is hopeful that Pavlik – a knockout artist who is 34-0with 30 knockouts – tries to take him out. That scenario would be right up Hopkins’ alley.

“Kelly Pavlik is the perfect opponent for me because he comes forward, he comes to fight,” Hopkins said. “And look, he wants to knock Bernard Hopkins out. At least that’s what he says. But he’s going to find it difficult and that’s going to change the fight. I guarantee you, that’s going to change the fight.

“Tito (Felix Trinidad Jr.) tried to walk me down. Tito had one bullet in the chamber and that was a left hook. If Kelly Pavlik thinks he’s going to beat Bernard Hopkins because he has a right hand, he’s a damn fool.”

Hopkins (48-5-1, 32 KOs) stopped the heavy-hitting Trinidad in the 12th round in September 2001.

Indeed, Hopkins is boxing’s ultimate positive thinker. He scoffs at the thought that any man can knock him out. And he does likewise when people ask him if he is staying around for one fight too many.

This kind of thinking does not resonate with Hopkins, one of the all-time greats.

“You know, my whole thing is you think about bad, bad will happen to you,” Hopkins said. “If you think about whether you can do or you can’t, that becomes another burden on you. I don’t need that in my life. The only thing I need to know is can I prepare myself mentally and physically to go to battle? And I say yes.”

Knock out Hopkins? Pavlik should be thinking victory and nothing more because even that is not going to be easy.

Luevano ready to dance while defending title

Steven Luevano of La Puente did not have an easy time of it in the most recent defense of his featherweight world championship against Mario Santiago in June in Las Vegas. He tasted the canvas for the second consecutive fight and absorbed quite a bit of punishment, as his battered face attested.

But Luevano – who also decked Santiago – earned a draw and retained his title in a fight in which he appeared on his way to being stopped before his tremendous courage kicked in and allowed him to rally in the later rounds for the draw.

Luevano, 27, will make the fourth defense of his title tonight when he takes on Billy Dib of Australia in the undercard of the Kelly Pavlik-Bernard Hopkins fight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

This fight with Dib (21-0, 11 KOs) should be vastly different from the one against Santiago, who went toe-to-toe with Luevano (35-1-1, 15KOs) in what turned out to be a thrilling slugfest on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-David Diaz lightweight title fight.

Luevano on Thursday described Dib as the “cocky” type, but not so much so that he is going to want to mix it up with Luevano like Santiago did.

“He just wants to jump around, kind of like Naseem Hamed did,” Luevano said. Hamed was the flashy former featherweight champ from England.

But whereas Hamed had terrific knockout power, Dib – with just 11 knockouts – does not. That’s why, Luevano said, Dib will probably try to dance his way to victory.

“Not to chase him around,” said Luevano, when asked what his key to victory will be. “He wants me to chase him. So what I’m going to do is let him jump in and use my left jab a lot.”

This will be Luevano’s second consecutive title defense on a major HBO pay-per-view card.

He said that at this point in his career he no longer has butterflies about the big stage.

He said Thursday during a telephone conversation from Atlantic City that he is relaxed and ready to roll.

“It’s exciting because I get to see a good fight after mine and I don’t have to pay for it,” he said, laughing.